Darts

First dart: Is violence good? Are we left with but an illusion of control, reading our genetic tea leaves?

Man is a violent animal. We just want violence to be in the right context. Killing in self-defense is good violence; i.e. guns are good; the more, the bigger, the better. Tank, anyone?

The only argument for an assault rifle has to be a cocktail of feelings about self-preservation, feelings of inadequacy and non-Constitutional, vague ideas of individual freedom. The problem: The Supreme Court determined the Second Amendment is only about self-defense and has limits. The dilemma: Without “bad guys” we don’t have a legal right to possess guns?

Another dilemma: If you’re pro-life, how can you be pro-gun, unless violence in the right context is good?

Violence in “acceptable” context comes with a horrible, malignant national cost. So, maybe, for the pro-gun/lifers, killing thousands per year through random gun violence is acceptable collateral damage for the right of self defense. Or can we view it another way? As General McChrystal said, “To torture corrodes most the torturer.”

Second dart: Most concede we have little control over the latest economic depravation and loss of privacy we’re suffering nationally. Maybe a big, bad, black, ugly assault rifle with a high-capacity magazine relieves this sense of helplessness. But, what can you actually do with it? Show it to friends, shoot through your house at bad guys, attack the police, go shoot up a school or probably just leave it in a closet where it makes you feel good? Just let ’em come, and git ’er done! If a hunter needs a high-capacity magazine, he’s either poaching or needs real help.

Soon, we’ll be able to routinely test/buy/know (with NSA listening) all our DNA material regarding IQ, physical/mental traits, illnesses, defects, etc. for the born and unborn. So, connect those pending decisions to the matter of an acceptable context for violence and the individual’s perceived extent of control. This nation is rapidly approaching some very hard, legal and life-changing choices about individual freedoms — far, far beyond the Second Amendment. The key to America’s survival isn’t assault rifles in the closet, but how we make the transition. So where do you want to spend your time?